Northland premier women's rugby: Kaikohe beat Te Rarawa to win senior competition

2019 champions! Upon the return of women's rugby to Northland, Kaikohe claimed the win with a nail-biting 17-12 result against the previously unbeaten Te Rarawa. Photo / Supplied

A late Te Rarawa insurgence wasn't enough to deny Kaikohe the Northland premier women's rugby competition crown, winning 17-12 on Saturday.

The highly anticipated final, held at the Te Rarawa Rugby Club grounds in Ahipara, proved an entertaining fixture for those passionate supporters who travelled to see the encounter. Previously unbeaten in their season's four games, Te Rarawa had a good chance to secure the title on home turf.

Going into halftime at 12-5 to the visitors, the game was still up for grabs and Kaikohe pressed their advantage with another try after halftime to lead by 12 points. Kaikohe winger Manaia Webb was a standout on the day, scoring two tries off the back of a strong forward pack.

However, the game was destined to go down to the wire as Te Rarawa scored a converted try to close the gap to five points. With about 15 minutes to go, the home side put pressure on the visitors, often finding themselves in Kaikohe's 22-metre zone.

Thanks to some great defence and a try-saving tackle from Kaikohe centre Priscilla Hohaia, the visitors closed out the game in nail-biting fashion and earned Northland's premier women's rugby title.

"It was an amazing game, it went right to the wire, and it was up and down, length of the paddock stuff," Kaikohe coach Cheryl Smith said.

"For the last 15 minutes, we basically defended the whole time so I really take my hat off to the girls, they had to dig deep to come out with the win."

Having not played in four weeks due to defaults and byes, Smith had hoped her side would be ready to take on the competition's frontrunners and felt their intensity at training prepared them well for a physical battle.

"The girls trained hard this week but as I asked them how much they wanted it and they all said they really wanted it."

"Our forward pack, they all came off absolutely shattered, [Te Rarawa] had some big girls and they were using them for their runners so our forwards' work rate was amazing."

Smith, Northland's Farah Palmer Cup coach, said Saturday's game could have been a Northland trial, considering the talent on show.

"There's some potential all right and if we can get them all on the paddock together with additions from other clubs, I think Northland could have a very competitive team this year."

Te Rarawa coach Rawinia Everitt said the game was a great spectacle and could have gone either way.

"It was good experience for the girls, it's definitely a memory I know all our team will hold," she said.

"Finals rugby is about withstanding pressure and it was a new experience for some of the ladies in our team, but they did themselves, the community and the Te Rarawa club proud so I'm happy with our season as a team."

Even though her team had the chance to level the score right on fulltime, Everitt said there were a number of opportunities throughout the game to score and it didn't come down to just one moment.

Having only played four games this season, Everitt was disappointed not to have played more but was glad to see the community rallying around the team to help them prepare for the final.

"The competition feel away towards the end which may have played a part in our preparation, but as a coach we tried to do what we could to help with those defaults."

"We can be proud of our community getting involved and that's the real winner on the day, so we are looking forward to what comes next year for us as a team and as a rugby community."

Northland's first ever game in the Farah Palmer Cup will be against Hawke's Bay in Napier on September 7.